Car infotainment to expand after soft growth in 2013

PARIS – Despite a muted economic environment, automotive infotainment is expected to experience strong growth in the foreseeable future as customers clamor for built-in connectivity and telematics in cars, according to IHS iSuppli.

Car infotainment semiconductor revenue is set to reach $6.67 billion in 2013. IHS said growth this year will be slower than last year’s approximately 4 percent increase, but solid expansion returns next year and beyond, with revenue growth of 3 to 7 percent each year during the next five years. By 2018, IHS said it expects automotive infotainment semiconductor revenue worldwide will represent $8.54 billion.

IHS said it anticipates that technology changes in cars will not just consist of new features and hardware integration into the vehicle. It will be also influenced by new hardware strategies.

Automotive infotainment systems are heading toward a PC-like architectural approach in which more functionality is dependent on a powerful main central unit, HIS said. Software will then appear as a differentiator among brands, and applications previously implemented via hardware will be reconfigured instead into simpler programs reliant on a heavily centralized unit marked by strong processing power and memory capabilities.

On the car infotainment market, only personal navigation devices will decline in the coming years with shipments falling from 33.6 million units in 2012 to 24.0 million by 2018, IHS noted.

Growth is anticipated in many other infotainment segments, including in-dash navigation systems, connectivity in head units, telematics, and both satellite and terrestrial digital radio. For instance, iSuppli said it expects that total in-dash silicon revenue in 2013 will amount to $290 million, up from $274 million in 2012. Similarly, automotive silicon revenue from terrestrial digital radio formats is set to increase from $55 million in 2012 to more than $140 million by 2018.

Automotive sector is one of the most profitable sectors in the current time period; as day by day the demands of automobiles are rapidly increases. Therefore in the automobile market we have found huge profits in this recent year; just because of high-tech technologies, advanced features, hybrid facilities and many other factors makes a vehicle perfect and affordable. So in the automobile market the growth of car sales is increasing at regular interval.